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All American Coach Hickie Still Looking

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All American Coach Hickie Still Looking

Gavin Hickie puts players through paces at a previous All American assembly.

As Gavin Hickie assembles his group of Men's Collegiate All American hopefuls, his message continues to be that he's still looking for players.

The door isn't closed despite the fact he has picked a bunch of players in this identification camp. Clearly the camp is designed for players who played a lot of fall rugby, and want to be seen. It makes sense. What also makes sense is for Hickie to be a little fluid in what a player's position is. Like at the younger levels, often a top player on a college team will play No. 8 or flyhalf when he projects at a different position for the All Americans. 

"As a country we appear to be very deep in certain positions, back row and cener in particular," Hickie told Goff Rugby Report. "They are similar skill positions. We are light in others - lock, scrumhalf." 

So he might be looking to shift someone around. What has been interesting is that while the Collegiate All American program always seems to be short of tall locks who can cover the field, several second rows unearthed by the program have gone on to international honors. The same could be said of scrumhalf (not the height part). They don't have a lot of certain positions, but the players found are good.

"The main message is that we view the Men's Collegiate All Americans as a stepping stone for full Eagle honors," said Hickie. "We want guys who have a real shot at Rugby World Cup 2019. Coaches need to send us good-qualify video of their games and players will continue to be monitored closely throughout the spring."

Well, there you go. Hickie has made it plain - tell him about a player, and have the video to back it up.